CONTEXT – 74th anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi’s death

WHY DO WE CONTINUE TO READ GANDHI

• Contributions as an important figure of world history
• Was both an enigmatic and disturbing figure.
• Out-of-the-box thinker
• Open-minded soft reader of concepts and categories.
• Saw his place among the weakest and the poorest
• His notion of a just and truthful politics was that in such an environment, the weakest should have the same opportunities as the strongest
• Was a chief doubter of oppressive systems and a rebel against all forms of hidden and open authority.

AN EXAMPLE OF SIMPLICITY

• Great example of simplicity and transparency.
• Gandhi’s simplicity was reflected in his deeds and acts, but mostly in his mode of life.
• Had more joy and fulfilment in pursuing less in life than in pursuing more.
• The corporate mindset — that of being successful — which dominates all aspects of our lives, did not exist for him
• Gandhi, like Sisyphus, continues to roll the rock up to the top of the mountain. With Gandhi we are never confronted with absolute Truth. Gandhi is a perpetual truth seeker
• Being victorious through his effortful trials, his position remains ambiguous and disturbing.
• He challenged Indian history by asking lucid and limpid questions from it. As such, in practically all of Gandhi’s historical actions, there was moral or spiritual interrogation. He, therefore, led Indians to a historical and civilisational awareness that went as far as a spiritual conversion to non-violence. That is to say, the Gandhian maieutic completely reversed the relationship between a leader and his people.

PHILOSOPHY

• Like Socrates, Gandhi was a midwife of minds (Gandhi was very much influenced by Socrates and his method of thinking).
• Reversed the guiding values of Indian life.
• His philosophy was that of a spiritual exercise, accompanied by an active reflection on truth and a lively awareness of all walks of life.
• Believed that the true test of life for the individual can be summarised in two principles: self-discipline and self-restraint.
• Observed: “A self-indulgent man lives to eat; a self-restrained man eats to live.”
• Vision of community goes in the same direction and Gandhi gives ethical and political primacy to the two concepts of self-realisation and self-rule
• Aself-realised and self-conscious community is a society of citizens who reconcile the self-determination of the individual with the recognition of the shared values in the community.

POINT OF SELF-TRANSFORMATION

• Believed in the interrelated nature of human existence.
• Said democracy was neither representation nor elections, but the self-transformative nature of the citizens.
• Process of self-transformation should influence not only the inner life of the individual but also public life. So, what seems important is the upholding of the ethic of human action and solidarity is the advancement of that very ethic.
• Gandhi taught us is that solidarity is not just a promise of compassion; it is actually what we can call the wake of responsibility. Undoubtedly,
• Global responsibility is nothing but an overriding loyalty to mankind. It goes without saying that remembering Gandhi could be a way for us to be reminded of our global responsibilities and our loyalty to mankind